"The Ultimate Fighter 10" season finale sees small ratings boost with 2.6 million viewers

http://mmajunkie.comBucking the trend of recent ratings declines, “The Ultimate Fighter 10″
season finale drew 2.6 million viewers, which was up slightly from the
2.4 million who tuned in for the most recent, Nov. 18, episode.

The two-hour Dec. 2 episode was the first since episode No. 3 in late September to improve upon the previous episode’s ratings.

The back-to-back season-ending episodes, which featured the conclusion of the
tournament’s quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, was the No. 1 rated
program of the day among network and cable television in the men 18-34
demographic, according to Spike TV.

The episodes were the first in two weeks (a new episode didn’t air during the Thanksgiving holiday).

After a season-high 5.3 million viewers for episode No. 3, the ratings had slowly declined from 2.8 million to 2.4 million until the season-finale bump.

The Sept. 16 “TUF 10″ debut set a ratings record with 4.1 million viewers (topping the “TUF 3″ debut by 1.3 million viewers), and when DVR viewing was included, pushed the total audience to 4.5 million viewers.

The bar was set even higher in week three for the highly anticipated and promoted fight between final IFL champion Roy Nelson and former EliteXC headliner and street-fighting sensation Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson. That episode drew 5.3 million viewers and peaked with a whopping 6.1 million viewers. When DVR viewing was factored in, the numbers ballooned to 5.7 million and 7.25 million viewers, respectively.

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